Faux Flames And Ice
by anti-viper
Summary: A thousand years have passed since Finn Mertens donned the Crown, and his sanity has indeed waned. And yet, the world around him has flourished; Ooo is what they call it, by some twist of fate. As the Ice Prince prepares to attend a certain Candy Princess's ball, a flame elemental does the same. She is his salvation, fate's final lifeline to the cursed youth. Can his heart thaw?
1. Prelude To The Night

_And so we have a wonderful meeting of an author with an idea he adores playing the role of the unstoppable force, and his inability to write within alternative universes and his own writing flaws accepting the part of the immovable object. And that's ignoring the wanton procrastination! Let the battle begin!_

* * *

_**Faux Flames and Ice**__  
_

_****_**Chapter 1: Prelude To The Night  
**

The topics of destiny and preordained events are often mocked and berated for their lack of promise, their lack of freedom, and their lack of explanation. Many would rather begin their lives in a die roll and be given the tools to possibly succeed, rather than receive an offer no one would call luxurious, but that you could learn to love, especially when your hair grows grayer, and you realize life's happiness comes from simple things, like the rustling of your hair by a girl you'd love to hold, or finding a lighter when lost in the snow.

But perhaps much of future events and their past brethren are mostly set in place with, but with a small bit of wiggle room; say Caesar avoided Brutus's knife lunge into his back thanks to a well-timed sneeze, but Cassius immediately took his own dagger and introduced it to Julius's jugular. Or maybe Hitler did create the first atomic bomb, but it was manufactured with a crippling flaw, and upon his pressing the big shiny red button the military base he resided in exploded, a large battalion of Nazis getting caught in the blast as well.

Perhaps it is not for simplicity's sake, nor for the sake of punishment, and certainly not for no reason at all, but for the purpose of putting things as right as they can be. So in a reality wherein Jake the Dog, tasked with crafting a wish to set right the Lich's and Finn's wrongs, refused to wish for anything besides a grande size, seven-cheese bean burrito, Farmworld Finn did indeed take a turn for the worse.

And yet, in fate's vast kindness, a turn for the better was offered after one thousand years had passed, in a world one might call quite familiar… for the most part.

* * *

"Ladeeda! La la la la laaaaa!" The icy royal crooned, his lithe fingers delicately grasping a nail file and wielding it with dexterity and insanity in equal measure. The harsh scraping of metal on ice rang through the castle's winding and derelict halls, the echo driving penguins to seek the ice-water in refuge.

The Ice Prince grinned maniacally as he finished his creation. The five inch Bonnibel Bubblegum stood with a fierce sense of pride in her exact curves, meticulously measured edges, and aesthetic superiority. If the ice the statue had been constructed from had been pink, it would have been a perfect replica.

As it stood, the Prince was more than pleased with his creation. Careful to use his "real arm" as he liked to call it, the deranged boy held up the figurine, doting upon it with his white gleaming eyes.

"She will love it, won't she Gondor?" Finn's ghost murmured in the direction of a reclined penguin, whose stomach rumbled in response, and who desperately wished his loco master would stop being a few leaves short of a willow tree and somehow make it with the Candy Princess. Gondor had heard she liked to feed animals spaghetti. That was better than having to forage for the ears of arctic animals that had fallen off from frostbite.

"I can just see her reaction… _Ohhh, Ice Prince, your lips are soooo coooolllld! How sexy!_" He whispered, pecking the statue's lips with the most delicate of kisses, like a draft that only touches the tip of your toes and leaves the rest of your body to the warmth of your bed.

The Prince knew how special today was, after all; it was well worth imagining what would be his. Princess Bubblegum was throwing an extravagant party that he was more than happy to cra—er, attend. Dressed in his best navy suit he might add, so dark it could be easily mistaken as black.

"And you know what they say about black ice, Gondor… dangerous stuff, fo realz," He muttered to himself as he made his way to his bedroom and therefore his closet. He reached the alcove to the room before halting, his head falling to the ground.

"…What if it doesn't work? I'll just take her again?" He whispered, his jagged reflection greeting his eyes from the floor. "Couldn't I make her happy? As cold as I am, couldn't a song, a kiss, just a touch make her see what I would give her?" Somewhere in the back of his mind, the Ice Prince considered that question on repeat as he strode to his navy suit, his bad arm's metallic fingers narrowing as he began to run them through his beautiful white hair. It was parteeeeeey time.

* * *

Far away, in the land of the Fire Kingdom, Princess Ember Pyra blushed lightly (well, considering that gamma rays involved, maybe lightly didn't quite cut it) at the curves in her gown. She rarely wore anything that was red, as staring at the color could lead to her anger boiling over, but tonight her father had insisted on this ruby number. It had trills along its neck, bottom and arm slits, resembling small snaking flames, and the body was equally imitative of her element, spiraling up her glowing body.

Ember did not like to think of herself as a particularly modest girl, but she had a general rule that clothes should divine their beauty from themselves and from how they fell upon a woman's body, rather than what they showed of a woman's body. And the sizzling line of cleavage the dress's low cut revealed was quite particularly the latter.

The poor girl didn't even want to think about some dope trying to lay his mitts on her… though they would only get a first-degree burn as a result (or a second or third if they didn't get the memo and keep their paws off).

For if modest, Ember was certainly not humble, and regarded her sparking body as a temple. A flame needed to receive nourishment, a place to grow, and soft stoking. She was determined to find all three, and knew that doing so was the equivalent of gazing high up the social ladder.

What better place to start than a royal ball thrown by Princess Bubblegum? While they weren't exactly close, Ember enjoyed the pink girl's company, and held her in high regard for giving the burning girl such a chance to scope out a dashing suitor. As much as she detested the holes within her garment, she could not deny that it was most likely going to get the job done well.

And so she dreamed of her Prince Charming, not at all the Jack Frost whose snow-white peach fuzz hummed as he lifted off his castle's peak, both a mere hour away from arriving at a ball that was meant to be quite uneventful, and would be decidedly the opposite.

* * *

Ahhh, destiny, the wrenches you throw. Speaking of which…

* * *

Within the bowels of a stunning Tree-Fort, a Vampire yawned as her eyes scanned the kitchen floor, her mind slowly becoming convinced that she knew who had committed the great treachery against her.

"Jake, you dopey wiener-dog!" Marceline shouted, spinning 180 degree and floating back toward the bedroom shared between her and man's best friend (a distinction the dog had in regards to her as well). "Did you steal my sock?"

* * *

_I have never trusted myself to write an AU fic. Changing around parts of an established fiction? Alright, but never an outright departure. And yet here we stand; this is just the tip of the iceberg too. I have some fun changes planned for this. _

_Also, I've been meaning to write something FP/Finn based (I don't consider this a spoiler considering the title, genre, and obvious set-up), and while this isn't exactly that I think it's similar in weird ways. Speaking of FP, I apologize for the name being a giant fire pun. Even though I love the name Ember. Pyra? Not so much. _

_I have no idea what updates for this will look like, but I'm planning on keeping it short both in the short term and long term, so hopefully they'll be fairly small waits. Thanks for reading! _


	2. The Man Behind… Er, Projected Onto The C

**Review Responses:**

**Bigslayerguyman:** _It's weird, because there are three different names for Farmworld Finn that are equally viable. Thanks for the praise, I was worried about parts of it._

**Vincent victor crowley: **_Thank you! I wanted it to seem kind of… like you said, elegant. _

**7: **_I mean, they already had enough problems when Finn wasn't a ice-wizard, so there will be some interesting complications._

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Man Behind… Er, Projected Onto The Curtain **

"Um, Prismo? I'm slightly, uh, confused," Jake piped in, his newly met cosmic-buddy pausing the screen displaying in front of them, the Jake and Marceline upon it freezing instantly.

"Main-screen pause!" Prismo shouted after it had already paused, as he always forgot to do it on time, and then coughed, his eyes turning to Jake (as well as his face, which was really weird mojo because, being two dimensional, it just flipped on an axis). "Yeah bro?" The deity replied nonchalantly; apparently being pretty much all powerful led to a good amount of whimsical apathy. "What's up?"

"Well… er," Jake mumbled, not exactly sure where to begin. A lot of weird had happened in the past five minutes. Now, the dog had had done some lime in the coconut insanity in his lifetime, like painting his house with condiments to impress his girlfriend's parents, but seeing himself reduced to walking around on four legs and subsequently turned into the Lich was just a bit unsettling. Scarfing down the wish-burrito had helped, but still.

"A few things," He continued, deciding to go with the flow. "I'll just do a runoff, I guess. Firstly, why have you started narrating what's on the screen? Secondly, uh, did we time-skip or something? Finn wasn't this loopy a few minutes ago, and I certainly don't remember there being a Princess Bubblegum, or really an Ooo. Just a lot of radiation and gunk. Uh… crap, forgot my place."

"You're on three," Prismo supplied, and Jake nodded.

"Yeah, so three is didn't Marceline melt? And I thought I turned into the Lich? And now we're living together? That was pretty confusing. Um. And I guess that's it. Oh, wait." Jake's stomach let out a massive gurgle, at least as massive as those produced by the giant baby of the Loco-Swamp. "My tummy begs to differ, have you got a bathroom around here?"

"A thoroughly intelligent set of questions, but you're kind or ruining all the plot set-up and pacing. Author's going to be pretty greased up, dude," Prismo replied, and though Jake felt another question rise at that response, he held it down. The same could not be said for the rank, deliciously cheesy fart that smacked out of his butt-cheeks a second later.

"Yeah, I'll start at the top with the rest, but we're taking care of the last one first," Prismo muttered as he blanched, a bucket appearing in front of Jake's feet. "That's a trans-dimensional portal device. Sorry, I usually don't host anyone capable of excrement."

"Yeah, I'd imagine, thanks man," Jake replied quickly, his need to relieve himself increasing. He was about to head out one of the doors surrounding him to do his business when another thought struck him. "Where will my stuff end up, anyway?"

"Lumpy Space," Prismo replied deftly, and Jake winced, but didn't complain, and certainly didn't ask for more information. He had always thought those clouds looked kinda off.

When he came back the bucket disintegrated, and Prismo began to address his points. "Well, I do the narration for… never mind, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. It has to do with some fanfiction and junk. You liked it though, right? Poetic and snizzle? That was one of my majors in college, poetry. The other was theoretical physics."

"Oh, yeah, right on, you got all metaphysical and my jowls were touched, brother!" Jake stated, plopping himself down onto the ground. "I just didn't get why you were doing it. But, you know. Keep it subtle. Just don't go overboard like they do in some of those weird documentaries."

"Sweet, you had me sweating for a sec there, I'll keep it smooth," Primso replied, not bothering to correct himself when he realized he didn't sweat. "On to the next one, yeah, we're about a thousand years ahead of where we were… which I mentioned in the opening narration, but your attention span is potatoes so I'm not surprised you missed it."

Jake shrugged, glad Prismo hadn't taken yet another chance to berate him for wishing for that burrito. His attention span had been called worse than potatoes.

"I figured you didn't want to watch through the boring and somewhat grim stuff, so I fast-forwarded time relative to how we're viewing it, but long story short your Ooo is pretty identical to this one. It was a lot of work to get that to happen, though. I really had to pull some strings."

"Huh. Neat. You can do stuff like that?" Jake asked curiously, rubbing his stomach as the urge for another burrito filled him. He struggled to suppress and actually listen; after all, the burrito had gotten him in this mess in the first place. "Like, what you were saying when you were narrating? You can affect fate?"

"More or less," Prismo replied with a shrug. "You just have to stick to a basic outline and adjust the currents to get it where it needs to be. All kinds of crazy improbable though. Take you and Marceline. She was actually pretty easy, though: when she died as a demon, she promptly got sent down into the Nighosphere, and considering her Dad rules it he patched her up quick and bribed Death until he cut her age back to around where you know her. By that point, the Lich had ripped a hole bigger than my old ma's yapper in spacetime, and she just plopped back in. But you… uh…"

"…That bad?" Jake asked, grinding his teeth. He had a good amount of empathy for the alternative versions of himself walking cool and winking at pretty babes through reality. Enough to not want to see them turn into the Lich.

"Long story short, Finn was just sane enough to fight the Lich off, and considering you were all he really had left, his love was strong enough that he managed to pull you out of him. Epic ice powers help too," The two dimensional dude replied, Jake's eyes immediately growing big and mushy at the thought of Finn saving him as such.

"Yadda yadda, he and Marceline wandered around for awhile while you kind of rotted with radiation poisoning," Prismo continued, though his patience was starting to thin, and he himself beginning to wonder why he didn't just show this section. And then he remembered the Lich gave him the heeby jeebies, and that he had really sugarcoated the amount of crap Jake's alternate form had gone through.

As he often did, Prismo kept these thoughts to himself, and finished his recantation. "And eventually they patched you up, you got your powers as a side effect from the radiation, as well as extremely long life."

"…Dude, as much as I appreciate the effort, this sounds like some of the bunkest, dumbest, plot-hole-filled sci fi of all time," Jake muttered, shaking his head, the 5th and 6th Heat Signature movies particularly popping into his head.

"Eh, whatever works," Prismo replied, yawning. "Just needed you to be alive. Destiny stuff, plus you're a pal. And since you wished for that burrito—" Jake smiled sheepishly as Prismo glared him down "–Finn's potential actions at this point are your only hope of getting back to your world. Anything I missed?"

"Um… what have Marceline and I been doin' for a thousand years?" The dog asked, his eyes widening as he finished his sentence. "NO WAY. Are we dating? That would be weird, but I could dig it. Also, shouldn't you have already just teleported me away since my wish clearly didn't make the cut?" Once again, Jake held off asking for another burrito.

"You guys pretty much just chilled after Finn went nuts, played a lot of music, roamed around, and no, you're not dating," Prismo replied, chuckling. "Thought I thought about it. Would have been weeeeird. And I kept you here by means of time delay because I'm bored, interested to see where my messing with this altered Ooo leads, and because your burrito still has the potential to affect things, no matter how remote, so I can't send you back yet. Also you're just a cool guy, Jake, you know? Somebody I wouldn't mind smoking a j with."

"Whoa! Whoa! What?" Jake sputtered, thrown off by Prismo's last sentence.

"What? You know, lighting jello on fire and then eating it?" Prismo teased, winking at Jake who grinned, attempting to punch his friend in the shoulder but only hitting wall. He needed to get used to the fact this guy wasn't three dimensional.

"Yeah, yeah, I got you good," Prismo chuckled, turning his attention back towards the screen. "Anyway, let's start this back up."

* * *

And so, far away from this twisted Ooo, Prismo had set the stakes incredibly clear: the only hope for the Jake the Dog and Finn the Human to return to their rightful places in spacetime is Finn's now frozen form. What will it even take for the shell of the hero to fix this immense flaw he has no knowledge of? What strange moments of brotastic bonding await Prismo and Jake as they witness these events unfold? AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHAT ARE THE SHIPPINGS—

"No, seriously Prismo, you need to STOP narrating like that, it's creeping me out man," Jake huffed, and Prismo simply sighed.

"Find out next time, chicks and dudes!" The pan-dimensional being finished with mock enthusiasm, trying to process the best way to explain to Jake why said narration really was necessary.

* * *

_Every once in a while you find the perfect title for a chapter. That was the case here, and I love it. _

_So, yeah, this is a bit of a departure from the first chapter, or at least paints it in a very different light. I went back and forth between this idea, but in the end Prismo and Jake are both very connected to the world the story takes place in obviously, so I thought plugging them into it in a way that both added depth and some light comic relief would be worthwhile. It's also worth noting that Jake and Prismo are unbelievably fun to write together. _

_Next chapter will be back to Ooo and probably be a bit longer than the first two, depending on how many characters I end up putting into it. Thanks for reading!_


	3. The Magic Hour

**Review Responses:**

**Vincent victor crowley:** _I had a feeling that the comic relief would be needed, cause it gets kind of heavy eventually. Thank you!_

**Messiah-Emperor: **_Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Their first meeting is going to be very, very interesting, and I'm looking forward to writing it. _

**MorenoX25: **_My one worry is that there might be too much going on for the shorter chapters. _

**paigebrumby: **_Thank you!_

**SaphireDragonHuntress: **_Thank you! I will try to keep the updates coming._

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Magic Hour**

"What? No, I told you, I don't do stuff like that anymore!" Jake replied quickly, too quickly as far as Marceline was concerned, as he tried to fit his posterior into his Tuxedo pants. "And I am not a Wiener Dog! Glob, can't believe I even replied to that!"

"Okay, numero uno, you have magic stretching powers, so just shrink your waistline," Marceline chided her companion, and after he acknowledged her advice and got said pants on, she smacked him right in the butt. As he rubbed his now sore rear-end, Marceline continued. "And duo, I KNOW you took it. I've looked everywhere it might be, and can barely pick up its scent. You didn't spray it with freshener, did you? You know I like my socks nice and stinky." Marceline snaking tongue flew out of her mouth as she curled and uncurled her toes.

"Oh, yeah, I know you like your socks nice and stinky, that's why I put it under the jerky in the fridge," Jake grumbled in a whisper that the Vampire Queen's ears easily picked up.

"Aha! In the fridge, huh?" She replied with satisfaction, drawing more grumbling out of the dog. "BMO! BMO!" Marceline then called out, and without delay the console came running into the room.

"Yes pretty Vampire momma?" BMO said with charm, even blinking its eyes innocently.

"Aww! Hi sweety! Can you go get my sock out of the fridge?" Marceline asked, lifting up BMO and cradling the robot in her arms. "That meanie Jake hid it from momma!"

"It would be my honor!" BMO replied with resolution, backflipping out of her arms and then running with its arms trailing off to the side, like a ninja. Marceline slapped her face and giggled at their friend's antics while Jake focused on adjusting his outfit.

"You goin' like that Marcy?" He asked, looking her up and down; it wasn't a slight, it's just he knew she was looking forward to the ball and expected more than jeans and a red shirt that read "Suck On This". Or, given WHY she was excited for the ball, maybe the shirt was fairly appropriate.

"Nah, I'm about to throw my dress on," Marceline replied, blowing her nails and actively ignoring the butterflies smacking around in her stomach.

Jake knew her much too well to fall for the act of apathy. "I'm sure the Princess will like seeing you all fancy and stuff," He teased, Marceline blushing angrily at his words.

"Oh, and how about you?" She retorted with a playful hiss. "Last time I hung out with you and that Rainicorn chick you couldn't keep your eyes off her horn."

"Heehee, ya got me," Jake giggled, putting his hand up to his jowls. "I want to taste the rainbow, I admit it. Speaking of tasting things you're crushing on, you still want to pick up some Hubba Bubba after tonight?"

"Heh, hopefully I'll be picking up some TONIGHT," Marceline replied cooly, slipping piece of gum out of the carton sticking out from her pocket. She unpeeled it with delicate fingers, making sure the packaging did not rip in the slightest, and slipping the pink strip into her mouth slowly. It was a motion she had become rather adept at, having gone through Glob-knows how many packs of gum in the last month.

"Wow, that's the most erotic tension I've even seen conveyed through eating a piece of candy," Jake remarked, straightening his bowtie as he spoke. And he had been to a liquid-chocolate wrestling match.

"I haven't been able to go an hour without popping one in," Marceline admitted, suddenly swooping upward and drifting until her face was a foot away from the ceiling. Her finger began carving, absent-mindedly slashing in lines Marceline knew would form yet another Bonnibel Bubblegum, and join the army of small drawings that had invaded their ceiling by way of Marceline's finger and hard crushing.

"It's about time you say something to her," Jake observed as he scanned the ceiling. "And rumor is that she's trying to find a suitor; some gossip is that she's hoping to tonight."

"Hmmm, I've heard so as well," Marceline murmured as she floated downward, the smiling caricature of the Princess growing smaller as she did so. "Jake, be honest with me dawg. You think I've got a chance?"

"I'd check the J. T. Dogzone book about that one if I were you," Jake teased, the Vampire immediately hissing and picking said book off the table, tossing it at her companion, who just barely dodged it.

"It's bad enough you write under that ridiculous pen-name, but do you have to keep the books in the fort? You know what's in them, obviously, and I don't give a fluff," Marceline asked, and Jake chuckled.

"I'm a proud author! But yeah," He coughed, realizing Marceline was seriously stressing, and therefore dropping the joking. "I think you should be good. She seems pretty fond of you, and I mean, you're the best flirter I've ever seen. How about me? Think I've got a good chance with Lady?"

"Oh, def, dude," Marceline replied, visibly thankful for his words of encouragement and searching for those of her own. "I mean, she's already cool with you being a dog, so things should be all set after that. You're lucky she doesn't mind though, what with you having LED your kind in that stupid war."

"Those were dark times," Jake muttered in reply, his face falling. "But I did what I had to do for my people, and thankfully I think she respects that. I'm gonna bring my Viola to try to woo her."

"Sock pow!" BMO shouted suddenly as the robot leapt out from behind a chair, flinging the sock towards Marceline.

"Right-onto-the-foot-Jitzu!" The Vampire shrieked as she stuck out her foot, the sock slipping onto it easily.

"Hey, you used telekinesis, didn't you!" Jake challenged, but Marceline only stuck her tongue out at him before swooping out of the room retrieve her dress. And though she couldn't quite eliminate the queasy feeling in her stomach, the Vampire Queen was not worried. Not with the dress that she was about to rock on her side.

* * *

"Now be careful, it's been so long since you've been out," The Flame King lectured his daughter as they materialized from their pure forms at the gate of the Candy Kingdom. "This kingdom isn't explicitly flammable, but you're made out of fire; brush against a marshmallow, and we have a diplomatic incident on our hands."

Ember made a point to thank Princess Bubblegum even more so for inviting her to the ball. Travelling with her father had made it how clear to her that was the ONLY reason she was being allowed to attend.

Still, as her eyes began to take in the beautiful architecture around her, her anger at her father blinked away. Ember had never even thought such places could exist. Everywhere was bright, beautiful neon colorings, and all the buildings were clearly very thoughtfully and smoothly designed, unlike her kingdom's love for rocky crags and muted blacks and browns contrasted against the colors of flame.

Somewhere, in the pit of her flaming heart she knew there was something amazing waiting for her inside that castle tonight.

* * *

Princess Bubblegum sighed as she stood upon her balcony; the midsummer night air ebbed and flowed around her, her heavy locks of thick bubblegum swaying slightly along with it. Something about tonight felt decidedly off, despite her excitement for the ball. She was particularly looking forward to spending time with Jake and Marceline, two adventurers who had recently moved into the Grasslands. The three had hung out quite a bit over the last month, and they both seemed decidedly cool. Bubblegum found the Vampire in particular to be… intriguing, though really, as a member of royalty she should know better than to get her hopes up about possible reciprocation, let alone an actual relationship…

Shaking her head, she returned to the ball. All in all, she should be ecstatic, yet something held her back. She shivered as a particularly cold draft buffeted her, the thin pink dress she had garbed for the evening, despite its serenity and beautiful design, not designed for maintaining thermal consistency. The Princess closed her eyes, telling herself she needed to go down and greet the early arrivals, whom had been streaming in beneath her for the past fifteen minutes.

She shivered again as another, almost pointed breeze ran through her… it was so cold it almost felt tangible— Bubblegum froze as something pressed against her lips, the world around her suddenly frigid, but pleasantly so. The affections of Marceline having been crowding her mind of late, she nearly fell into the kiss, assuming it to be the Vampire, and afraid to open her eyes and end the moment.

It was ended for her, and when she finally blinked her chocolate orbs apart, the night sky was empty. She gulped, her analytical mind immediately dissecting the situation. Vampires could become invisible right? No way… no way she had hallucinated being kissed on her balcony. That would be just so lumpin' pathetic, she knew she was crushing but…

In a rare moment, Bubblegum's mind fell silent as her eyes fell upon a light blue figurine now perched upon her balcony's rail. With muted horror and disbelief, she picked up the replica of herself, swallowing as its sub-zero temperature filled her hand with winter's aches.

"…Ice Prince," She whispered, her fingers tracing her lips. Part of her wanted to be very angry, but as her eyes glazed over her imitation, and she slowly realized its perfection, its absolute detail and adoration of her, from the ice being the same smooth but thick texture as bubblegum, to the warm, cheery smile the frozen Bonnibel wore, she felt her heart sink. She was more of a scientist than an artist, but the painstaking love in the statue did not escape her.

"Ice Prince?" Bubblegum asked into the air hesitantly; no answer came, and after swallowing, she turned with a sigh. "Thank you. It's quite lovely. But… Glob…" With tears in her eyes, she turned away and walked into her room, determined to get out this cry and then to put on a face for the ball.

Upon her tower, his head in his hands as he looked up at the night sky, commanding the wind to break into a crescendo of frosty power, the Ice Prince sighed happily. He could not possibly understand Bubblegum's tears were of grief, and of failure.

Instead, his chapped, blue lips curled into a loving smile, and he whispered to the hollow world around him, "She loved it so much, it made her cry."

A tear formed within his own eyes and fell as he rose and flew towards the gates, content with making an actual formal entrance for once. As it passed below the squall of ice he had summoned, it began to freeze, and when it reached the ground the water, so quickly robbed of its fluidity, of its warmth and now hardened into a small dagger of ice, shattered.

* * *

_I'm having fun playing with the character changes; Marceline much more cheerful from actually having a companion, the Ice Prince and Bubblegum having a very different (this will be explained later) relationship than the Ice King and her. _

_I'm trying to keep the plot going at a decent rate; big things will hopefully happen next chapter, and bigger things in the chapter after that. We'll see how the lengths change, but I'm really digging the under 2,000 words at this point. Short and sweet. _

_My schedule is more back on track, so I'll see when I can get the next when up. Thanks for Reading! _


	4. In Line Is Where The Party Happens

**Review Responses:**

**JohnDeanWinchester 2.0: **_Wow, thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it!_

**Messiah-Emperor: **_There will be some interesting moments to be sure. There will be one love triangle that gets pretty dang messy as well._

**Desperado558: **_Thank you! This one is odd because it's kind of a mix between humor and serious moments, and while that's usually how I like to write, in this case it's a bit more polar. Ice Prince can really flip between sickly sweet and insane in a moment's notice._

**Guest: **_Sorry for the delays! I hope you enjoy it._

* * *

**Chapter 4: In Line Is Where The Party Happens**

_How many chance meetings occur through our lives? For all you know, the difference between meeting your soul mate and remaining alone for your life is your favorite coffee shop messing up your order, and in those two minutes you meeting your Venus (or yo Apollooooo)._

"Prismo, that example sucked!" Jake muttered, but his pal gave him no mind.

_Perhaps, in the line of a fantabulous ball, love can be found. Alongside massive, massive amounts of aggravation._

* * *

Ice Prince hated everything about Cinnamon Bun. He hated how pudgy she looked, he hated how she… leaked, he hated how sometimes he couldn't but imagine how she tasted SWEET WINTER WINDS OF FATE… how did… how did his angel put up with THAT?

He knew he should have brought Gondor to keep himself from getting bored and to show off to the hotties in line. Instead, here he was, standing behind Glob damned—

Cinnamon Bun's subsequent flatulence raised Ice Prince's murder lust to planes unseen since Gondor had broken his chandelier by swinging on it like he was Montana Steve (or whatever the hell the name of the movie had been).

* * *

Flame Princess whistled gently, laughing as she slowly turned the chocolate dirt beneath her feet into that of a more melted variety, and every other variant of ground she walked across into tasty candy syrup. She noticed a few people appreciating her efforts, and as strange as it was to see people eating the ground, she waved jovially.

Several waved back, including a large gummy snake that proceeded to hiss, "You are the best thing to happen to this place since I hatched!" Several more cheers erupted, and Ember blushed so hard that her hair flared upward, enveloping an already lit marshmallow lamp into a glorious s'more. Immediately every candy citizen in the vicinity, sensing the inherent awesomeness of the moment (and also eager to eat a ruined marshmallow-lamp, as there had been a marshmallow shortage caused by their creation), leapt forward to try to pull it out of its holster.

The winner was Marceline The Mutha' Lumpin' Vampire Queen, who swooped down effortlessly and slipped it away from everyone else's arms with her own slender, lithe and lightning fast limbs.

Flame Princess gave her a wave as well, embarrassed about all the attention she was receiving and aware her that father had started to notice, and Marceline winked before shouting down, "Hey, skirt! You're hot, babe! Whooo!" The Flame-Girl's eyes latched onto the startling beauty of Marceline's beautiful, silky black dress that fell in shiny, murky laces, and her heart nearly fell, unable to believe she would have to compete with such amazing women to find her own "hero".

Slight amazement quickly morphed into shock as the Vampire continued, "We should hang out a bit at the ball, girl! Just don't light me, or any of the other guys here on fire!" The grey girl winked and whipped her tongue through the air with luster before floating back down to Jake, who had watched the entire affair with bemusement.

Ember about fizzled out, collapsing into her father's arms, who lifted her onto his shoulder without missing a beat and then mentioned something about female Flame Elementals being as ridiculous as tap dancing eels under his breath.

* * *

"Congratulations. Here I thought you were going to make only one Princess faint, and you've already knocked out one who isn't your main target," Jake replied, stroking his jowls as Marceline grinned heartily, the sheer high from making someone FAINT with her sexual prowess (let alone because it was a girl and BONNIBEL BUBBLEGUM WAS ONE OF THOSE) when she hadn't even met HER Princess at the party yet was just knocking her out.

"Woof. Woof. Bark. Roof. Erargh. Awooooo!" Jake bombarded his friend with dog noises, attempting to get her attention, but to no avail. "Wow. You're freaking out of it Marceline. You drop anything today?"Jake asked, trying to gain the Vampire's attention

"Wha?" Marceline said in response to Jake's voice, her ears ringing slightly from his shouting and her mind still elsewhere.

"Did you drop something on your head? Or drop yourself? Or… heck, drop your head? Is that detachable? Gawsh, you could do some kinky ish with that," Jake rattled on, Marceline growing bored of his ramblings (though probably would have been more interested if she had paid attention to that last part) and imaging how deliciously pink her Princess would be.

* * *

No, seriously, Ice Prince wanted to LOBOTOMIZE Cinnamon Bun. The stench of liquid cinnamon was starting to make him nauseous, and it was all because of that mumbling, bumbling… Ice Prince faded into sheer anger as he slowly formed an ice dagger, edging closer and closer to Cinnamon Bun, until at the last moment he caught himself and pocketed the frozen blade.

Ice Prince stopped moving for a moment and got his bearings. He had almost completely lost it there. Whoo.

He shook it off and kept walking. Little did he know two people soon to make his life very complicated – a dueler for his Princess and a beautiful girl he'll soon long to touch – were in that line with him.

He had no idea, of course. Ice Prince? Heck no. He was thinking about where he could get a Gyro from around here and slowly and sadly realizing they probably didn't have them for miles. And that they might not exist anymore even. What the fudge was a Gyro, anyway?

Distracted by his stomach's desire (and mind's confusion regarding it) for Greek cuisine, Ice Prince was not watching where he was walking. Cinnamon Bun had mistaken a manhole for a trampoline and have leapt up to butt-bounce onto it and as such had landed on her mushy tush. Ugh.

Perhaps, if the frosty youth's eyes had not then been drawn by a small flicker in the crowd, he would have been able to avert the coming atrocity. But instead he squinted, his heart, for so long only able to be thawed by the pink girl he had stolen a kiss from just minutes ago, began to melt slightly.

Yeah, she was on some other guy's shoulder, which was weird, but she looked so radiant. So beautiful. So splendid. After years of worn eyes glossing over the light blues, such flickering oranges, glowing yellows, and her red dress that looked scalding to the touch filled him with life anew.

The culmination of his fascinating glimpse was the Ice Prince continuing to walk forward with no perception of where he was going, and his foot plunging into the depths of the candy woman's body. The horror, Finn Mertens realized, deep within his tiny barricade from the crown, could not be measured. It was so significant that he could only wince at his now wretched form screaming in terror.

* * *

"Hey… uh… is that somebody screaming?" Flame Princess whispered, dimly wondering why she upon her father's shoulder. Even if it was nice and warm.

"It's not a kingdom if somebody ain't screaming, baby," Flame King replied crookedly, Ember wishing not for the first time that her mother was still around to corral her father and provide him some kind of moral compass. One that would make him less prone to locking his only child in a lantern and ordering assassinations on everyone in the kingdom who looked at him funny.

* * *

"Dude, I don't believe it," Jake muttered suddenly, complex feelings digging their way into his heart guts. "Marcy, it's him." His trembling arm slowly stretched out.

"Who?" Marceline followed his pointing, and was well aware of her knuckles cracking like thunder at the sight of Ice Prince, so tense did they become. "Oh Glob, Jake. He's…?"

"Here, obviously. And judging by the look on the faces of these tasty folk, I think he's been bothering them for awhile," Jake replied grimly.

"Mang, if this is too hard, we can leave," Marceline began, placing her cool hand on his fuzzy shoulder, and then thinking better of it and beginning to rub his ear. "I know it's been awhile, but it still has to be so, so hard…"

"You knew him too, Marcy," Jake reminded her, but she only shrugged.

"But there are gaps; I don't even know when I met him, thanks to my Dad wiping out my memory," The Vampire murmured with more than a little anger, her voice rising to a growl as she finished.

"Mine's a little fuzzy too, considering I was such a simpleton before I nearly died," Jake replied, his eyes beginning to water from a lack of blinking. "We should stay. Monitor him. Make sure he doesn't do anything whack. Besides, we have ladies to serenade, and balls are when you win 'em over."

"…Do you think he remembers any of it?" Marceline whispered her eyes glowing a dim red as she watched Banana Guards pull the shaking and screaming lunatic out of Cinnamon Bun.

"My master was a good dude, and maybe he's somewhere in there," Jake the Dog muttered darkly, turning his head away from the scene. "But I think we both know the Finn we knew is never coming back."

Marceline sighed, hugging Jake tightly from behind, whispering calming words in his ear. The dog thanked her and wrapped his own squiggly limbs around her from behind, embracing her tightly, both trying to block out the shrieking of the boy they had once known.

* * *

_Writing this is generally the highlight of whatever day I do so. Playing around with the characters in their different positions within the universe just makes me giddy. _

_I had a lot of fun in particular with this chapter too. Thanks for reading!_


	5. My Personal Antifreeze

**Review Responses: **

**Desperado558: **_Thank you! It's weird, I never had any interest in AU's until this fic, but something about taking the pre-existing stuff and just spinning it differently is really fun._

**Messiah-Emperor: **_Gah, I am such a patoot. A terrible-at-updating patoot. _

**Zeta's Slumber: **_That's actually the logic that led to the fic. I was brainstorming and randomly thought, "What if Ice Prince-Finn somehow met up with Flame Princess?"_

**Guest: **_Finn is fun to write as the Ice Prince, I'm glad you're enjoying his character._

** 10do: **_I was actually on the fence about the Bubbeline at first, partially for your reasoning; shipping for shipping's sake in a plot focused on other things can be meh. So I tried to decide if I could fit it in the fic logically and if it felt natural, and while that comes up a bit later, I think I have and that it does (I love me some Bubbeline though, so yeah). _

**Alice'sLover: **_Thank you very much! Sorry about the delay, I hope you enjoy it!_

**nightmaster000: **_Thank you! _

* * *

**Chapter 5: My Personal Antifreeze  
**

_The temperature drop in the northern region of the province had been too much for the Princess of the Candy Kingdom to ignore for long. Where people had once lived snow down dropped from the sky without end, and the murmurings of a decrepit blue creature scaling the newborn icy summits only escalated matters._

_Armed with her snow-gear, Bubblegum set forth into the icy waste determined to find answers. _

_It took her little scientific examination to realize the constant spiral of white chill had an obvious epicenter, and after tightening her clothing and lamenting her dropping body temperature, she continued onward._

_After a half hour of partial blind stumbling, she suddenly pushed through a particularly thick wall of winter, and nearly fell flat on her face when she found the other-side was tranquil and free of harsh winds. _

_"The eye of the storm," She whispered, her eyes immediately narrowing and falling on a small blue figure that shivered as sunlight reflected from its mirror-like back. "Greetings! Are you injured?" She called forth, frowning as no answer came. In fact it showed no sign of hearing her at all. "Well, I'll come to you, I guess!" _

_The Princess gracefully jogged over the flat landscape, moving with care as it was coated with ice. Her eyes drifted upward as she gained ground, and as such she could make out the pale streaks of frosty power emitting from the figure and spinning the entire world into white. _

_"…Do you need help?" She panted, leaning over as she came to his side; it was definitely a male, garbed in a ripped and stained blue shirt and pants of an indescribable mix of colors from what she realized with disgust were also stains. _

_"Leave. Me. ALONE." His voice was metal scraping against ice, making her wince hard. She had adjusted to the blinding light, and the view of his pale, thin body laced with scars and wrinkles despite his obvious weaning youth was getting to her, twisting her stomach in pity. The white hair that streaked down his back, however, was utterly pure and unsoiled. _

_"You need help. Please, it's alright," Bubblegum whispered, trying to convince both him and herself of that statement. _

_His head slowly rotated until it was parallel to her own, and they examined each other's facial profiles intensely. _

Your face is so withered, so hard. I can see your frozen tears. How did you come to be here, and like this? _Were her heart-wrenching thoughts._

An angel, _Ice Prince thought, his mouth slowly gaping at what had cut through his cold rage and now dazzled him. _A… a pink angel!

_"You would help me?" He asked incredulously, turning fully so that she loomed over him as if she was some sort of God that had come to strike down a sinner. _

_The Princess froze for a moment before reluctance and visible fear were replaced with her loving and caring nature, and she slowly removed one of her gloves before offering her now bare hand to his touch. _

_He grasped it with reverence, his fingers shaking as they lightly pressed against her pink palm and fingers. After a moment he careful pulled it closer to him, pressing it against his deathly face. _

_Bubblegum somehow restrained any wincing, and even found the sensation pleasant in the oddest way. "Of course I will help you," She whispered, feeling more sympathy by the second. His eyes blinked, and where frozen orbs had reigned there were now spheres glazed as if from melting. In them, she could just make out the warmest thanks amongst a blizzard of pain._

_Bonnibel Bubblegum's cheery pink face broke into a smile as she pulled her hand back slightly, her pinky expanding from it. Their lives changed beyond repair when she uttered the words:_

* * *

"Pinky promise," Princess Bubblegum said slowly, Ice Prince rolling his eyes in response. "And don't cross your toes." Being escorted up to the castle entrance by the Banana Guards had been insulting enough, and now his beloved was acting as if he had come to deliberately rouse rabble; and just when he had thought her heart was cooling towards him completely. The bitter look she had sent him when his actions had been relayed still stung.

"I promise I will act cordially and present myself well during the ball. No kidnapping or freezing. No shenanigans," He replied flatly, caught between feeling affronted and awe at the Princess's gown. "I swear on my love for—"

"On your pinky," Bubblegum concluded for him, knowing very well what he had been about to say, and in no mood to hear it. Her delicate, yet perfectly thick (Ice Prince had a slight obsession with hands) pink finger extended into the air, waiting to bear witness to yet another vow between them.

He quickly realized her mistake, and their eyes met as he held up his bad arm. She knew better than anyone he used it as little as he possibly could (as she was also well aware of its limitations and his almost indescribable hatred toward it), and as she had put forth her left hand, it would have been the one she had shaken. The metal arm that she knew also had non-bendable fingers.

To his surprise, the Princess blushed, embarrassed that she had missed such an obvious deet, and quickly switched hands. Then, to her obvious astonishment, he smiled wide and flexed his latest additions to his metal arm; fingers. Fully functioning fingers. Nearly perfect… just needed feeling.

She had offered long ago to craft him a construct of her own design, or even work out some bio-junk he didn't understand, but he had insisted in proving himself to her by making the scientific leap. For the first time in a long while, he looked at the sleek, metal limb, and as he curled it in and out of a fist, he felt pride.

"I'm… proud of you, Ice Prince," Bonnibel whispered after her shock faded, years of patiently reading engineering theory to him coming to a new apex she had never imagined, let alone considered due to his… eccentricities. "Maybe sometime I could give it a look-over?" She stretched her free hand forth, nearly making contact with the metal appendage before thinking better of it and letting her arm fall to her side.

"It would be my honor, Princess," He replied, taking her other, extended finger with his good hand's pinky before dropping to one knee and pressing his lips fleetingly upon her pink skin. Without another word, he rose and walked into the ballroom, a serene wonder of whether or not grasping her digit or tasting her flavor had been more pleasing filling his mind.

Bubblegum watched him dimly, holding up her now chilled hand. She had no time to contemplate her fluctuating feelings, and pulled together a straight face as Spearmint Butler announced the next names upon the guest list.

* * *

Jake and Marceline had to wait a good while before they came to the entrance, and the fact that they had seen Ice Prince along the way made the wait drag on substantially; at several points Marceline had suggested he might be causing trouble, and that they should move up to the front to check… and then maybe not get back in line afterwards.

But eventually they did come to the door, Jake motioning for Marceline to go in front and the Vampire giving him a tepid thumbs up.

"And now we welcome Marceline the Vampire Queen and Jake the Dog, renowned heroes from far away who have recently taken residence in the Grasslands," Spearmint proclaimed, the pair moving through the great doors and waving at the immediate fanfare they received.

Marceline and Jake quickly discerned the Princess out of the crowd from her height and color (it also helped that she was actively trying to greet everyone who walked in), and made their way toward her.

"Hello, Princess," Marceline greeted, her fingers fluttering in a gentle wave, finding Bubblegum's dress an exceptionately good thing to stare at.

"Sup," Jake greeted in a decidedly less formal manner, his limits for such things already being filled, considering he was wearing a suit.

"Greetings friends," Bubblegum replied after likewise looking over the Vampire Queen. "You both look quite wonderful for the occasion. That's a beautiful dress, Marceline," She added, the lightest tinge of red appearing on her cheeks. It was dark enough for the undead girl to notice, and she quickly matched it.

Jake looked between them, and then chuckled. "I love me a tricycle, but I ain't in the mood to be a third wheel, so I'm going to find my own dame and serenade her with— AWW GLOB I FORGOT MY VIOLA!" He slapped his head and walked off grumbling as his words deepened the blushes of both girls.

"…Come find me later, okay?" Bubblegum whispered into Marceline's pointed ear after a few moments of awkward silence, her voice dangerously supple and her hand dragging the undead girl slightly lower to the ground. With a nod the Vampire floated off, hoping later was in the next five minutes and determined to find something in that time frame to loosen herself up. She was feeling more wound than a coil of beef jerky (and just about as tasty).

After drinking some punch and trying out a few delectable strawberry tarts, she felt much more satisfied and less shaky. Unfortunately, the next step in the process, talking with other people, did not go as smoothly.

The Candy People, despite being a little goofy, were friendly folk, but obviously unused to Vampires and not in any way shape or form looking to expand their knowledge (especially those of them that featured any shade of red). That more or less left her the various royalty that was visiting as potential targets for conversations, but while she was indeed royalty, it was more so in title than in actuality, and she quickly faded in and out of any conversation she tried to start or join to her dismay.

The low point had been asking if anyone else played bass amongst the Duke of Nut's party, and subsequently being asked herself if that was some kind of brass instrument.

The only person who had deemed her worthy to talk to was Lumpy Space Princess, and while Marceline appreciated the fact she had been willing to strike up conversation… yikes. Invisibility had its perks, and when LSP finally averted her gaze elsewhere, the Vampire poofed into thin air and made a beeline for cover.

Still, as she floated away, the last words of the lumpy girl (directed apparently at her, indicating LSP wasn't even aware Marceline had vanished) caught her by surprise: "I just hope that Ice Prince doesn't start hitting on PB again. Ugh. He's such a little leach."

Marceline reverted to visibility from behind a pillar and then floated out, running these words through her mind. It was just her luck that she had not only run into Finn this night, but that he was apparently also taken with Bubblegum.

She frowned, her patience for the ball suddenly running thin. Maybe she would just go… it's not like anyone else here was enjoying her company, and continuously failing to make any positive contact with the people around her, the people whom the Princess herself spent most of her time with, was slowly overshadowing her dreams of romance and making them seem like silly, girlish fantasies.

Marceline was a Vampire, for Glob's sake. Sure, a very well-to-do Vampire that in many other parts of Ooo was considered a hero and revered, but here, she felt like she had so long ago, when her father had popped her down back into Ooo ten minutes after having her forcibly turned into a Vampire ("for her own safety") and with no memory of her past; utterly alien and alone. Of course, she had not stayed that way for long…

"It's not you, it's them," Came a dulled voice from behind her. Her spine straightened as she recognized who owned it. "I spend much of my time trying to help people, and what? Here I am, outside the circle." The words halted, almost as if the speaker's throat had frozen on the spot, before he finished in a harsh tone, "I think it's the arm."

Marceline turned to face Ice Prince, whose eyes were now glued to his metal limb. "I guess with you they would be turned off by the… what? Floating?" His eyes narrowed, and his lips began to move without direction, as if something incredibly important was just on the tip of them.

She studied him with a blank face, thought she couldn't help but believe some sorrow shown through. Still, the Vampire almost felt some joy; Glob, he had recovered to a great degree. The last time she had seen him, he had been a complete mess, so desperate for any source of affection and yet so traumatized by his own self-hatred that every sentence he had uttered had been any exercise in schizophrenia.

"…Do I know you?" He asked eventually, taking a hesitant step forward.

"You did, once," She answered honestly, rubbing her shoulder as it dawned on her how uncomfortable she felt in his presence. Marceline still couldn't imagine how much terrible her past could have been compared to the life she had lived afterwards; roaming through the wastes of the world, trying to save a dog infested with the most dire evil she had ever known, and now centuries after the fact staring into the eyes of his lost master, for whom she had eventually realized there was no cure.

"You look so hurt," Ice Prince whispered, desperate for this strange, gray girl to meet his eyes and divulge her secrets. "…Have I hurt you?"

* * *

_He asked as she pulled another piece-of-shit cross out of her arm. Finn had fallen out of one of his fits, which to her relief had not involved him attacking her with stakes. Marceline had relied on whatever chicken-brained survivors they happened across for that, the latest batch having just retreated back into a small town from the plains the trio of Dog, Vampire and Human occupied. The undead girl hoped they would stay there, having to retaliate against the poor terrified lunatics being the only thing she hated more than being attacked by them. And to think, her dad had claimed she would be welcomed with open arms: "Yeah, Vampires are all the rage now!"_

_"No, Finn," She whispered, sighing bitterly as her muscles, veins and skin healed themselves. "It wasn't you. You were just… out cold." The Vampire smiled bitterly, facing away from him and turning her eyes to Jake, whom was bridging the definition between alive and dead a little bit more with every passing day. _

_"Hehehe," The boy whispered, pulling his arms tightly around himself, and wishing desperately in his mind that he could be warm again. His words, in inverse, were, "I love being out cold." He quickly flipped from giddy amusement to sullen reflection once more, and he murmured, "Maybe if… you gave me the Crown for just a few minutes, I'd feel better." _

_Marceline's back tensed, her thoughts automatically turning to prayers that he wasn't going to threaten to set himself on fire or jump off a cliff again if she refused it from him. "You know it wouldn't, Finn. You're so far gone already, dude. We need… we need to find…"_

_"FIND WHAT?" He screamed, throwing his arms wide and seemingly following his echo with his eyes as he stood and turned in a full circle. "…I just want… to hold someone… to be warm…" _

_"I just want to hold it, and freeze," He hissed a moment later, crouching into a squat and burying his head into his chest. _

_"What happened to us, Finn?" The Vampire tried after stroking Jake's ears pensively. "Please… I have to know." _

_"It's ICE PR—" He began to shout before catching himself and flinging his entire body into the ground beneath him, a nasty crack emitting as his head kissed the dried dirt. Marceline flew toward him, but he slowly rose without her help, spitting out purplish blood. "You don't want to know. I'm already hurting you enough. I never… I should have listened to you, Marceline. I'm sorry you couldn't escape this hell when you had the chance." _

_"Don't talk like that," She whispered despite no understanding of his words, slowly reaching out and gingerly parting the hair from his face, and examining his injury. Barely a dent was to be found; even without it upon his head, the Crown had already culled such a hold upon him that he was nearly beyond needing her protection. Sadly, it also seemed to be eroding the plain truth out of how desperately he needed her sanity (a true testament to his lack thereof, considering how quickly her own was failing). _

_"I don't want Jake to die," Finn whispered, scraping a crude drawing of himself running with his dog in the ground using his metal arm. "I already lost him once to that… that…" He couldn't continue, his teeth falling into a clatter reminiscent of machine guns for several moments before he could right himself. "If you have to choose, choose him." _

_The words rang out as sharp as the sound of his cold pincer digging through the chilled earth, yet they still felt hollow. _

_Marceline swallowed, her eyes glancing over the crown hung to her side before burying the boy's cold frame into her own, giving him whatever warmth her dead body held._

_ She didn't have the heart to answer that she already had._

* * *

"You never meant to," Marceline forced out, turning from him and floating away, desperate to find Jake or the Princess. When she was far enough away from him, she concluded in a tiny, defeated voice, "I should have saved you."

Ice Prince feebly raised an arm after her in protest, utterly confused as to why the cold he savored now felt hard and crippling and why he felt a strong urge to run to her and apologize.

* * *

"Princess Bubblegum!" Flame Princess shouted upon viewing the pink girl, excitement flaring her hair upward. Without another word she ran up her fellow royalty, curtseying.

"Ember! It's been much too long," Bonnibel replied with a smile, leaning in for a quick hug (more of a touch, really; bubblegum smelled horrible when burnt).

"I'm just glad I'm out of the lantern," Ember said with a bright grin, her eyes losing focus and taking in the bright world around her. "Thank you so much for inviting me. I can't even remember the last time I left the kingdom. Everyone here is so kind!"

"I'm glad you find my people and kingdom as such," Bubblegum responded, her eyes immediately catching the behemoth of flame that was her father making his way over as well. "Why don't you run off and meet some people, while I talk with your father?"

"…Alright, hopefully he doesn't bore you," Flame Princess whispered, looking back to make sure he wasn't too near. "He's also kinda grumpy. Thanks again!" She ran off quickly, Flame King soon taking her former place and regarding her with a shaking head.

"I'm pleased you've done enough work to let her into the outside world again… but I'm still nervous as all hell," He murmured, skipping the pleasantries and he was oft to do.

"I know… you and I haven't always agreed in the past, Flame King, but I'm glad you're attending, and that my efforts to stabilize her have worked," Bubblegum replied, her words clearly deliberate and considered.

"Do you think she could handle courting?" He asked after nodding, getting directly to the point (and the only reason he was here in the first place). "My kingdom could really use more diplomacy besides the coal trade."

The Princess considered his words with unease as the monarch sighed, shaking his head. "I just want to let her live a happy life; you know, set a lot of things on fire, marry, fire, maybe pick up a sport. Instead, it's the same blasted illness her mother had… Glob damned instability."

"…I know. I still feel… terrible she had to spend so much time in that lantern, away from the world," Bonnibel whispered, though her mind had begun to drift away from the girl of fire to her polar opposite. "It's hard. To see someone filled with mirth so… broken." The last word fell from her mouth before she could stop it, and with a grunt of distaste, the Flame King left her alone. She barely noticed him move.

* * *

_He had been working on it for over an hour ; every other second he would curse his lack of another arm, and his functional one's immense shaking (in cold or excitement, he knew not). He sat in the corner of her lab, wagering a look at her now and again to compare (like he had not memorized her features in the several months they had known each other), if not simply stare at the Candy Princess as she clinked test tubes together and scribbled on her note pad. _

_Finally, he deemed his creation complete. _

_"It's you! Don't you like it?" Ice Prince asked excitedly, pressing the small statue into her hands after finally getting her attention away from her experiment. Bubblegum took it gingerly, smiling at the amateur craftsmanship before her as he twisted awkwardly, fear of rejection written all over his face. _

_He had done quite a good job with the body, and though the face lacked finesse she could not help but match her imitation's wide smile. "I love it," The Princess whispered, cupping it in her hands and holding it close to her. _

_"…Is it perfect?" He asked hesitantly, and after weathering her frown, he gulped._

_"Ice Prince…" Bonnibel whispered, still feeling the slightish bit foolish for calling him such a name, but lacking another to use in its stead. "Nothing is perfect, but that doesn't mean I don't love it."_

_"…You're perfect," He replied as if her words were ridiculous, beaming brightly until his smile fell and his lips began to quiver. She had no time to fight off her blush and question him, as he whispered, "It's melting."_

_Bubblegum flinched at the dejection in his voice, quickly looking downward to confirm his statement: the petite figurine was indeed beginning to drip. "It's made out of ice… ice melts," She replied soothingly, kneeling down and touching his shoulder. _

_"Not… not if I hold it," Ice Prince whispered, slowly covering her hands with his own, though his were too small to fully eclipse them. He looked up at her and smiled once more, and for the first time in his life, despite that more than half of it was hidden to him, Finn Mertens felt purpose. _

_"…You're so sweet," The Princess replied, the cold seeming even duller and less painful than usual, though suddenly she felt a slight tinge of fear; a premonition of coming sorrow. She shook it off and asked, "Would you like me to find a way to save it? I could keep it in a cooled climate, where it wouldn't melt." _

_He nodded excitedly, and sat in silence as she left the room. After she came back, she kneeled down again and informed him she had placed the statue into her fridge._

_"You might need more space than that," Ice Prince replied, already deciding what improvements he could make, already vowing to work fiendishly every-night to increase his mastery in this craft. "I'm going to keep making them until… until one's perfect."_

_Bubblegum smiled in return, ruffling his hair and turning back to her lab equipment. As he scampered off to the other side of the room to no doubt begin anew, however, she sighed, her fingers plucking through her locks of hair in worry. _

_She had seen the look he had given her, and could only prepare her heart for the eventual pain she knew she would bring him, no matter how much she wished she could give this confused soul the happiness and warmth he yearned for. _

_He was just… too broken._

* * *

_By far the biggest chapter yet, because I wanted to get cohesion with the flashback sequences (so next one will be a bit smaller). Quick question on those: do you guys prefer to have dates included? I try to mark the time best I can within the writing, but… yeah. _

_My only concern now is the lack of Flame Princess; since she's one of the few characters who haven't seen much of a shift, I tend to underwrite her. Next chapter is mostly her, as a result. Thank you for reading!_


	6. My Little Sparkplug

**Review Responses:**

**nightmaster000: **_Thanks! The flashbacks were my focus with that chapter. Yep, Bubblegum really likes Finn and wants to help him but doesn't know how. Marceline and Finn is something I really wanted to explore. And yeah, Ice Prince is a mess. _

**eternal nothingness: **_Oh glob, that's exactly what I wanted to hear from feedback. Thank you so much!_

**Messiah-Emperor: **_It looks bad now, and gets worse, but he'll have his due in the end. Don't worry, I like him too much ;) ._

**IamYlen: **_Yeah, he really goes through hell. And you'll LOVE this chapter, it has great FP I think!_

**Maguffium239: **_This one has more Ice Prince actually being solid, a bit of Prismo (and more to come in seven!), and little Bubbeline, though it's still happening._

* * *

**Chapter 6: My Little Sparkplug**

The word of the night was control, and Ember literally would mutter it to herself every ten seconds or so, such was her determination to not lose domain over her flames. Finding a suitor was her dream for the evening, but she was smart enough to differentiate between a fairytale story of sudden romance kindled by a lonely Princess in the confines of her lantern and the unforgiving politics of the courting process.

Heck, the Flame Girl felt like a sparkler in front of Princess Bubblegum, and the candy royal seemed to not even receive glances of inquisition; how could Ember hope to catch someone's eye, let alone the eye of a fine, caring gentlemen who would make her feel like she was sipping aged oil, or dancing through dry leaves, if such a stunning women could not?

Besides an inquisition made many years ago by the Prince of the Bee Kingdom (Ember had only been 11, and had angrily stormed out of the room when the perv had tried to charm her with any and every song that featured the word "honey"), she was completely foreign to the process.

As if on some ill-fated cue, such a suitor coughed behind her in an attempt of romance. It was the Marquis of Nuts (in his teens in this alternate universe), who took a deep-breath with his squirrely-cheeks, mentally told himself to "Go get it, gurrrlll", and began to unload painfully bad nut-puns faster than the automatic Acorn-rifle his father had gotten him for his coming of age.

"Mind if I crack the ice? I'm a nut, so I'm use to cracking!" He shouted in a high pitched voice that was clearly the result of nervousness, Flame Princess blushing in horrified embarrassment but unable to speak due to pure surprise. "You know what they say, chestnuts roasting over an open fire!" He added a moment later, moving his chest much too close to her own.

Ember blanched slightly, and tried to dissuade him, saying, "H-hey, I'm going to go get some p-punch."

"But, but I was going to show you MY chestnuts," The awkward nut replied, the Princess's face beginning to match her dress after such blatant innuendo.

"Whoa, Marquis, no, no, no, down boy," Came a voice from behind both of them, an icy blue hand appearing on the Marquis's shoulder. "Please stop with the jokes, just chill out and give the lady some space."

Ember's eyes widened with amazement as she turned to view a blue humanoid roughly her age, a navy suit donning his sharp lines, and his snow-white locks of hair shining from the light overhead. She thought he was the most angelic looking member of the opposite sex she had ever seen.

"Let's not turn this into another Slime Princess incident. Remember her crying 'bout being called Sour-Apple Jello? Or how about when you called her a jigglin' mound'?" Ice Prince asked, gently addressing the other male royal (whom he was quite fond of and actually golfed with), who sighed and nodded.

"Sorry pretty fire girl," The Marquis said dejectedly, turning on his heels and walking away, igniting a bit of regret in Ember at her reaction.

"Don't mind him, he's a fine young chap, but his parents kind of have him living a shelled lifestyle," The frosty Wizard deadpanned, smirking lightly after his pun. As Flame Princess giggled at the joke, to his amazement, he chuckled himself, and added, "Okay, I promise that REALLY is the end of the nut puns."

"Hey, that wasn't bad at all," Ember replied, brushing a singing strand of hair out of her face, and blinking sparks at him.

Ice Prince quickly remembered he had seen the girl before in line, but for obvious reasons she looked a bit more pleasing off of her father's shoulder. He also noted with bitterness that she was a Fire Elemental, and that as such, he would be wasting his time and simply playing with fire if he remained in front of her beautiful spiraling frame, and her luscious black coal eyes, and her shimmering, wild hair…

"Oh Glob," He whispered, his heart ratcheting up to a tempo it hadn't hit since his angel had given him a spin-hug from behind. "I-I'm sorry, but I need to leave before I do something stupid," Ice Prince muttered, faltering as she flinched out of a kind smile and into a forlorn frown.

"Of course… you're clearly elite royalty and I'm just some… dumb girl who should feel lucky you talked to her," Ember replied shakily, hissing lava beginning to drip from her eyes as she mistook his disappointment for dislike.

The blue young-man wanted nothing more than to throw his arms around her, barely restraining himself from doing so despite the painful truth of how much that would hurt. Part of him knew he needed to run away from her, needed to save her young heart the pain of love that wasn't even able to be requited. And yet…

"No, no!" He shouted, picking out a handkerchief from his pocket and carefully using it to wipe away her tears with his good hand. "It's not you, darling, it's just that I'm an ice Wizard, and you're a Flame Person. We'd hurt each other, and… well, I don't know about you, but love's hurt me a good deal enough already."

"Oh-Oh," Ember murmured, touched by his comforting, and immediately feeling empathy. "I, I don't care, really. I've felt so out of place here, except now that I'm talking to you."

"Really? That's a gas, I usually scare the heck out of pretty girls, minus Bubblegum," The monarch wheezed in amusement. "And her kindness comes solely from how immensely sweet she is, I've generally thought."

"Well… well all the other girls are just fools, then," Flame Princess stuttered, throwing caution to the wind. "If you're like this all the time, any girl would be lucky to hold your hand… even Bonnibel." She reached out suddenly, and despite her urge to feel his true skin she grasped his metal limb by its rigid fingers.

"…My bad arm. You're touching it," Ice Prince whispered, his pale irises blooming in shock and fascination as a trickle of warmth crept up his numb shoulder. "Your touch is so… warm." She blushed as he leaned forward, only inches away from her searing lips.

Ember's flickering gaze danced between his eyes that seemed to be fading from a glacial wall more to the ocean's sheen with every passing pulse of combustion in her body, and his chiseled crystal lips.

Ice Prince regained his twisted sense of logic just before he caused what would have been the second mini-nuclear explosion in his life, moving his face back and filling its promise with his metal hand, rubbing it against her blistering cheek as she looked on with arousal and melted into his words.

_Kiss of death, kiss of death _

Ice Prince began to whisper, Ember's twin suns bursting with ultra-violet light as his words pirouetted from stream of conscious jabber to an impromptu poem.

_How I long for this kiss of death  
For in that theft, life is blessed  
With just a fleeting press,  
Swelter and frost are suppressed_

_Heart burns like napalm in chest  
Mind freezes like mammoth in rest  
Kiss of death, kiss of death  
Such a blissful end, such a bitter crest_

Ice Prince smiled dreamily as Ember's face erupted into nearly blinding flushes, and felt his spine tingle as their breathing, steam and snow, collided, popping the air.

"Can we please dance, if we can't kiss," Flame Princess whispered, her hair swirling around her head with gusto. With a nod, her newfound date donned a fine white glove on his blue hand.

"Hot-stuff, we're going to dance until you burn through my good-hand's dress glove," Ice Princess replied, his metal fingers now sliding along the ridges of her petite ears. Without another word, he guided it down to her hip, gripping gently and leaning in close, before moving a bit away as his peach-fuzz caught on fire.

"Heehee," His little sparkplug giggled, entwining her plump fingers between his own sheathed daggers. Immediately feeling the soft fabric withering from her heat, she became determined to make the most out of however long the white linen would last.

* * *

"…Yes, please, sign my foot!" The Housie cheered as Jake muttered dangerous words under his breath, unable to believe he was actually having to hit this kind of low just to snag a Viola for a few tunes. "Thanks! It's funny, I don't even play Viola either! I won it in a raffle outside!"

"That is AMAZINGLY interesting," Jake growled, ripping the Viola from the Housie and walking off without another word, praying Lady hadn't heard any of his groveling.

"You autographed some buffoon's foot just so you could serenade me? I've always loved a dog who can learn new tricks," Came a string of Korean spoken in such close proximity to his left ear that he panted without thinking.

"And I've always loved flying chicks who can change colors," Jake chuckled, turning sideways and stealing a kiss from his date. The Rainicorn latched on for a brief moment, and then flew backwards, giggling.

"Your kiss exceeds your face," She taunted, spinning around him slowly. "But then again, I look like a stretched out, multi-colored piece of spaghetti. So that leaves us even, and I'd like to hear some music now, sweet-cakes."

"Oh, girl, I've got my bow, my Viola, my paws, and I'm about to blow your socks off," The dog countered, his strings humming as his arm began to flex back and forth. For a moment, the entire party around them seemed to freeze, and a hush fell amongst the crowd, so crisp was the melody the instrument birthed.

"…Somebody is aiming to make the leap to tier 10," Lady replied after a moment, her blush blazing and the red in her body slinging up and down her body like a heart rate-line. Jake smiled bashfully and tossed the Viola over his shoulder. His hands had more pressing matters to take care of.

* * *

She spun and spun like a top that had been bombarded with Molotov Cocktails, sweet-smelling smoke and dying midair flames mapping the route her partner had carved for her on the dance floor. Ember was in love; with her cycling vision, every moment a wonderful sphere of the bright colors of the Candy Kingdom melting into one glorious tapestry of awe; with the rush that acceptance brought, the knowledge that someone was holding her tight out of their own volition; and perhaps with the brilliant gentleman guiding her footsteps?

Flame Princess gasped as the movement came to a screeching halt, momentum arching her backwards onto Ice Prince's metal arm. For a moment time and place were lost, as her eyes studied the intricate design of the ballroom's ceiling. But soon she caught herself and returned to standing without any weight upon the leader's arm, the object of her ruminations gazing back at her with a radiant smile, as if his eyes could block out the entirety of the spectacle around them and view only her.

That wasn't far off from Ice Prince's perspective, as he simply couldn't imagine what else deserved his attention more than the blazing girl in front of him. Spare sparks from her body caught on his suit, but he didn't mind, let them engulf him for all he cared.

The moment finally got to the young girl, and a blush ran across her face as his grip across her waist tightened, the heat she shot through his metal limb nearly enough to convince him it was flesh.

And just as he wanted to push himself closer, and course whatever heat his cold shell could muster though him, two things occurred; a splitting pain struck down his body, as if a javelin had struck through his head. The second was somehow more painful, as the second was that upon his head jerking upward in shock, his eyes met another pair; glinting greens spread in shock.

There was his angel, staring back at him with her mouth slightly gaping. Immediately, he winced, his heart tearing as he realized what this must look like, and for the first time, what it actually was. But then, to his amazement, her benevolent face pressed into a sad smile, she nodded briskly, and the frozen soul thought that maybe he caught a tear growing in her eye; but before he could look further, Ember's voice shattered the sliver of time and brought him back to his wits.

* * *

Bonnibel sniffed as she turned away from the dance floor, the graceful feeling of joy spreading all through her. She had been afraid that tonight would have ended like many others; Ice Prince begging her for her heart, forcing her to bitterly spread the canyon already present in his own even further.

The look of love of his face had wiped away all her guilt in one fell motion, and she prayed that whomever he was holding would remain in his arms for many years.

All she had caught of his partner was a gleaming red dress, for if the Candy Princess had known in that moment that the girl bringing warmth to him was Flame Princess, as much as it would have broken her heart, Bubblegum would have done what was necessary and separated them immediately. Who knows what pain could have been saved if such had occurred, but—

* * *

"Whoa, are you serious? You already know how this is going to play out?" Jake interrupted with contempt, crossing his arms as Prismo rolled his eyes.

"I mean, they nearly blew up Ooo when he wasn't an ice wizard and missing a few Fruit Loops," The deity replied with a shrug. "I've got an idea of what's going to happen, or at least some of the possibilities, but for the most part I'm just as blind to the outcome as you. I'm just inferencing, bro."

"Oh, aight. I hope you're wrong, though," Jake replied, rubbing behind his ears uneasily.

"Sorry ladies and gentlemen. Back to our regularly scheduled program," Prismo stated, clicking his fingers and summoning a muzzle across Jake's mouth as he opened it to ask another question.

* * *

But instead, the Princess was drawn away from her thoughts by a tap on her shoulder. "Want to dance somewhere a little more… secluded?" Came a dangerous purr in her ear, followed by twin points delicately scraping against her neck. A quickly glance over her shoulder confirmed that as she had hoped, the Vampire had concealed herself with invisibility before acting so brazenly.

Bonnibel held in a moan (as well as a gasp of offense), surveying the party in front of her with muted reservation before Ice Prince's smile came back into her mind. For years, she had restrained any romantic urges, the combination of a lack of time and the frozen youth's inevitable messy reaction making the concept foolish. And just for one night, Bubblegum wanted to dance at one of her own balls on her own terms.

"Seclusion sounds absolutely splendid," Bonnibel whispered, tilting her face and rubbing her cheek against the smooth gray splendor hanging next to her, unseen by the rest of the night goers. And to her at the moment, she supposed, but that would be rectified very shortly.

* * *

"You want to get something to drink? I mean, I can't have anything but, you know," Ember asked shyly, tugging off her date's glove just as it finally burst into flames. "I think our time to dance has run out, sadly."

Ice Prince sent a gaze to where Bubblegum had stood, but she had disappeared. He heaved a long sigh, the look in his angel's eyes on repeat in his mind. Then, without another moment of hesitation, he chuckled, and replied, "Oh, I'm sure we'll be able to mix you up something… alcohol burns, after all, and my good friend Cinnamon Bun over there surely looks as if she could direct us to a table where said drinks are being served.

Flame Princess could only thank Glob and the powers above ("Thanks!" Prismo replied nonchalantly, Jake snorting in disbelief) that she had found some a diamond in the rough. Pity that diamonds and ice can seem so similar. But that was not nearly as pitiful as when Cinnamon Bun tripped over her own feet and fell upon the Marquis of Nuts, a long crack and scream ensuing from the unfortunate young man and Ice Prince nearly needing to stuff his fist in his mouth to hold off laughter as the pun struck him into hysterics.

* * *

_Holy crepes, I hit the peak of my writing ability in the Ice Prince/Flame Princess section and it was just writer's nirvana. I don't know how good it reads, but writing it made me super duper psyched out. _

_I liked everything else too, but worried it got a little choppy in the later half. Next chapter is Flame King and Ice Prince meeting not-so-happily and Ember has to separate them, BUBBELINE, Ice Prince going at Marcy and having a completely awkward, dementia laced rant against both of them until Bubblegum calms him down. And that's all before I spoil ere'thing. _

_So hopefully nothing more than a week for a wait. That's what I'm aiming for. Hope everything's going well for everyone, thanks for reading! You guys are awesome._


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